The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a bendable tube, in particular for an endoscopic instrument, in which a tube is separated into several tube sections in a manner such that adjacent tube sections engage into one another with a positive fit in the axis direction of the tube.
It is known to manufacture tubes of this type, in which several tube sections may be bent or are connected to one another in an articulated manner, by lugs formed on the tube sections engaging into recesses of adjacent tube sections, such that first individual tube sections are manufactured which are then manually joined together for forming a tube. This procedural method is comparatively time-consuming and costly, wherein the effort is yet further increased with an increasing number of the required tube sections, as well as with a reducing size of these tube sections. Moreover, bendable tubes manufactured in this manner only have a low stability transverse to the axial direction of the tube, since the tube sections may also inadvertently separate from one another just as they are joined together.
Bendable tubes may be manufactured considerably more simply with a method known from German published patent application DE 195 35 179 A1, in which a tube is divided into the previously described tube sections with a separation procedure, wherein an assembly of the tube section is done away with. The disadvantage with this method, however, is that one may only manufacture those tubes which, with a stable positive-fit connection of adjacent tube sections, are bendable only in a very limited manner or, with a good bending ability only have limited stability in the regions, in which adjacent tube sections are engaged with one another.